China planning to secure North Korea's nuclear arsenal

China planning to secure North Korea's nuclear arsenal

rawstory.com

China has contingency plans to dispatch troops into North Korea and secure nuclear weapons in the event of instability in the hardline communist state, according to US experts who have talked to Chinese military researchers.

Any intervention by Beijing would be done as far as possible after consultations with the United Nations but unilateral action was not ruled out, the experts said in a report published on the websites of two US think tanks.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Just one more reason to vote Ron Paul. The man is right when he says a non-interventionalist foreign policy is what we need. Let regions take care of themselves.

Although with a substantial army and a well-embedded defense, I don't think anyone is just going to waltz into NK on a joyride. It would take a substantial force, and even if it were achieved, what would happen after that? Could the world trust the Chinese to return control or would they move to annex NK?

rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Should it happen I would say annex is likely, but they did not annex in the Korean war.
As far as the plans go I think most all the worlds powers have plans like that.

Originally posted by RedGolem
Should it happen I would say annex is likely, but they did not annex in the Korean war.
As far as the plans go I think most all the worlds powers have plans like that.

Hmm, annex is likely? I suppose one would have to ask what NK has that China could ever want? More slave labor? Because surely they don't need the extra nukes, and as far as the land goes, what would that do to Korean plans for eventual reunification?

Probably annex, but why would this info be released essentially warning NK? Seems like an empty threat, because I doubt the news will know before the NK nukes are secured.

i don't think NK really has anything of value to China. I believe this would strictly be a method to gain stability over their nuclear arsenal.

the only problem i see with this is NK's resistance. there's no way they'd let China waltz in and take their means of defense(as dangerous as those means might be).

the timing for this seems a bit odd to me, though, considering what's going on in the rest of the world(mainly Pakistan, Iraq, Israel, Kenya, and Iran).

So how would China go about doing such a thing? I suppose that China, when you think about it, is probably the most logical choice to deal with such a problem:

1) They are the closest in proximity to many of the nuclear facilites;
2) They probably know more about NK's nukes than anyone else, even the IAEA.
3) Their plans can probably include options that other militaries might not see, given China's superior intelligence on the matter.
4) China would probably encounter the least resistance of any other country, and be able to unite counter factions inside NK more easily than anyone else, due to it's prior relationships, similar government types, etc.

But the severity of the instability, and the degree to which factions divide inside NK would no doubt have an effect on the military options used, imo. What could be tricky is if say Kim died and two or more groups decided they were going to seize power. Who do the Chinese back and recruit to achieve the objective of securing the nuclear arsenal? Surely they would have to align with one, to have the best chance.

Another issue is that securing and destroying are two completely different matters, requiring different tactics. Securing most definately includes troops on the ground, whereas destroying might not.

I'd be curious as to what some of the great military minds around here might have to say about the kind of operation needed to achieve such a task and how it might be done. Here is a map of NK's nuke facilities, sourced from the FAS.

there really aren't any concrete solutions to a problem such as this. diplomatic resolutions have failed, because in all reality, one country can't legitimately say to another "i can have this but you can't because you're not reliable."

if they were going to do this, it would either be some kind of black op, or a full-on military invasion. the problem with both of these is that Kim Jong Il would say "nuts to that!" and more than likely flex his nuclear muscle(if it worked, this time). they did test a nuke and failed miserably, right?